War on Gaza worsens Israeli economic crisis

An economic analyst has warned that the aggression launched by Israel against the Gaza Strip will deepen the economic crisis in the near future, which may push Israelis to protest in the streets against the Netanyahu government.

Avi Temeken published his concerns on a specialist economic and technical affairs website. He said that firm analyses showed that the upcoming Israeli government will face an economic situation that requires it to take difficult decisions.

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The Israeli expert pointed out that it is this which pushed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call for early parliamentarian elections, so he won’t have to deal with issues that can embarrass the government during the interim period.

Temeken thinks that the war against the Gaza Strip will worsen the economic situation in Israel, not least because the costs of an open-ended campaign cannot be estimated. Moreover, the Minister of Defence will ensure that every bullet and missile is paid for by Israeli taxpayers.

The economist warned that the gap in the general budget will widen due to slow growth in Israel, which was lower than the levels predicted prior to the aggression on Gaza. At the moment growth stands at around 3 percentage points per annum; he predicted that if it dips to 2 percentage points, the Israeli economy will go into recession.

This, said Temeken, could see internal unrest against the government. “Austerity measures imposed on the people will not only cause problems inside the government,” he added, “but may also push Israelis onto the streets, as happened in the summer of 2011.”